Page 13 of K-9 Prime Target

She left him, and moments later the sound of running water told him she was in the shower. He forced his mind away from fantasies of her naked in the stream of water and opened the browser on his phone.

A search for Aaron Nicholson brought up everything he needed to know about Nina’s stalker. Most of the articles he had read previously, but a few of them were new. A short piece from a national publication revealed that upon his release from prison, Nicholson had settled in Bluff, Utah, with his seventy-four-year-old mother and replied “no comment” to any questions lobbed at him by the reporter.

The shower shut off, and a few moments later the blow-dryer whirred. Liam went into the kitchen, filled a glass with water and drank half of it, then surveyed the contents of the refrigerator with an eye to suggesting dinner. He couldn’t stay the night—not unless he retrieved Angel from the Sheraton—but he wanted to stay long enough to reassure himself that Nina was calm and safe, preferably with a law enforcement officer patrolling the neighborhood regularly.

The blow-dryer ceased, and seconds later the doorbell rang. Sky jumped up and barked. Nina came into the room, dressed in a soft tunic top and wide-legged trousers in a deep salmon color, and shushed the dog.

“It’s a sheriff’s deputy,” Liam said after a glance through the window.

Nina opened the door, greeted the officer, then led the way to the table where the note still lay. Liam relocked the door, then followed.

“Dispatch said the note was threatening,” Officer Dale, a twentysomething with a buzz cut and the beginnings of a paunch, said. “This reads like an old friend saying hello.”

“Except that the only person who ever called me darling is a man who just got out of prison after serving three years for stalking and attacking me,” Nina said. “This is the kind of message he would leave.”

“Let’s sit down and you can tell me about the stalker.”

Liam sat on the sofa with Nina. Sky came and settled next to Nina, her head in her mistress’s lap. Officer Dale took the chair recently vacated by the dog. He opened a notebook and looked at Nina.

“The stalker’s name was Aaron Nicholson,” she said. “A little over four years ago, shortly after the Winter Olympics in Beijing, he began stalking me. I was traveling around Europe and North America with other medal winners, doing various appearances. These notes started showing up at my hotel or were posted at venues where I was skiing.”

“I can see how a note from a stranger could be annoying,” Dale said. “But a note isn’t dangerous. Especially if it doesn’t contain a threat.”

“I believed that, too,” Nina said. “The notes were like this one. He called me darling. Sometimes he talked about how beautiful I was or how much he looked forward to meeting me.” She swallowed hard, her whole body tense. “After the European tour, we traveled to Lake Placid, New York, for an exhibition show. It was a charity fundraiser, something I was passionate about. A lot of Olympians participated. I began to get the sensation that I was being watched. There were more notes, and then one night I came back to my hotel room and he was there, waiting for me.” She looked down at her hands, knotted in her lap, fingernails digging into her skin.

“He threatened you?” Dale prompted.

“He had a knife. He pulled me into my hotel room, locked the door and held me there for several hours. He cut me with the knife. I finally managed to get away from him and run for help, but I thought I was going to die.”

These last words, spoken in a ragged whisper, squeezed Liam’s heart. He had been away that night, having flown to Argentina on a new assignment. He saw the story on the news and hurried to get back to Nina. But by the time he got there she had been whisked to safety, and he hadn’t heard from her again.

Until now. He took her hand and squeezed it. “Nicholson was captured and sentenced to prison, but he only served three years,” he said. “He’s out now, and his last known address was in Bluff, Utah, only a few hours from here.”

“Have either of you seen Nicholson here in town?” Dale asked.

“I haven’t,” Liam said.

Nina shook her head.

“You have no proof Nicholson wrote this.” Dale tapped the letter with one finger. “It could be someone who heard about the previous incident and is copying him. It could be an innocent fan.”

“Given what happened before, you should take this seriously,” Liam said.

“I don’t see that we can do anything at this juncture.”

“You could have extra patrols by this house, and alert other officers to be on the lookout for anyone acting suspiciously,” Liam said.

“We’re in a whole town full of tourists. What constitutes suspicious behavior is a matter of opinion. As for patrols, we don’t have the staff for special attention to one person.” Dale stood. “I’ll keep this report in our files. If you see Nicholson or receive a real threat, let us know.”

Liam took a step toward the man, but Nina pulled him back. “Thank you, Officer,” she said. “I’ll be in touch if anything else happens.”

As soon as the door closed behind the deputy, Liam balled his fists at his sides and began to pace. “He wasn’t taking you seriously. I’m going to file a complaint. Or maybe go to the press.”

“No!” She grabbed his arm again. “Don’t give Nicholson any publicity. That’s what he feeds on, at least according to the doctor who testified at his trial. I don’t want to do anything to egg him on.”

He forced himself to rein in his emotions. “You’re right. But the fact that that cop didn’t do anything at all infuriates me.”

“What did you expect?” she asked. “He’s right. There’s nothing threatening about the letter. It’s like all the others I received. Creepy only because they kept showing up. Even I dismissed them as harmless at the time.”